What to see at London Craft Week 2022
Exhibitions, talks and workshops to catch during the May festival
As it prepares for its eighth edition, London Craft Week founder Guy Salter believes its mission to give greater value to the handmade and to meet a growing public interest in discovering the unexpected, is more relevant than ever. ‘Things have been coming in our direction,’ he says. ‘There have never been more people interested in finding new amazing things – in what I call the “aha” moment, when you suddenly gain that little nugget of knowledge that makes you understand why and where something is made, why it’s so special, why it takes so long to learn a skill.’
Since the pandemic, the individuality embodied by craftspeople is even more vital, he says. ‘Over the past two years many people have been considering what’s important in their lives and what they are surrounded by – thinking, if I'm going to have a few things around me, I want them to be beautiful and made in the right way.’
Ahead of the event, we picked out some of the exhibitions, talks and workshops we are most looking forward to next month.
Plant Explorations at The New Craftsmen, London Craft Week 2022 Moon Rock table by Studio Furthermore
ON SHOW
Plant Explorations by The New Craftsmen
The New Craftsmen gallery is marking its 10th anniversary with a collaboration with Kew Gardens. It invited artists – including basket makers Annemarie O’Sullivan and Hilary Burns; weaver Catarina Riccabona; woodworkers Takahashi McGil and Cyriaque Ambroise; and designer Lola Lely – to create works inspired by the botanical gardens’ Economic Botany Collections, a range of more than 100,000 artefacts from around the world derived from plants.
10–15 May
Country pavilions: Norway and Malaysia
A new addition to the London Craft Week programme are two ‘country pavilions’, launched with an eye to expanding the event’s global reach. This year, at Cromwell Place in Kensington, the Oslo-based group of artists and curators Pyton (11–14 May) will exhibit a range of 20th century and contemporary Norwegian works. In Belgravia, the Malaysian high commission (9–15 May) is presenting a showcase of woven silk pieces made using an endangered technique born in the state of Pahang. These will include works made by inmates at two of the region’s prisons, part of an initiative for former prisoners to gain skills for employment.
The Gallery at Liberty London, in partnership with the Crafts Council
We've teamed up with Liberty London to showcase work by 10 of the Crafts Council Directory's leading lights, chosen from among the 800 makers on our books. Head to the retailer's iconic Regent Street store to explore (and buy – prices start from £30) handmade pieces. These include ceramic tableware by Isatu Hyde, turned-wood works by Ash & Plumb and rope baskets by Ruby Cubes, among others.
Space Lava by Studio Furthermore
For Crafts' upcoming May/June 2022 issue, we met Marina Dragomirova and Iain Howlett, founders of design studio Studio Furthermore, who are creating an object to send to the first gallery on the moon in 2025. Closer to home in Shoreditch, they are showing new and old pieces from their Space Lava collection of vases made of recycled aluminium sourced from car wheels, as well as porcelain pots and furniture from their Moon Rock collection.
13–15 May
The Future of Craft: Oxo Tower Wharf
Works by more than 40 makers will be scattered across the four floors of the Bargehouse near the Thames, in this collaboration between two creative platforms: Future Icons and Design-Nation. Catch exhibitors such as woodworker Angus Ross, textile artist Majeda Clarke and marbling artist Nat Maks, as well as panel discussions, demonstrations and installations.
12–15 May
Style mavens hungry to discover the designers of tomorrow should head to London College of Fashion in Marylebone to explore a showcase of crafted work from its bachelor’s and master’s courses – ranging from footwear and jewellery to tailoring and fashion accessories.
9–14 May
TALKS
Gaining Ground: How Ancient Craft Knowledge Can Shape Our Future
How can craft help restore our communities and our planet? We might be biased, but our magazine’s upcoming talk at the Crafts Council Gallery promises to be something special. Join us to celebrate the new exhibition Gaining Ground – and the launch of Crafts’ May/June 2022 issue – with an expert panel that includes basketmaker Annemarie O’Sullivan and ceramic artist Jay Mistry (Crafts magazine subscribers attend for free – look out for your discount code on an email or contact us at crafts@craftscouncil.org.uk).
10 May, 6.30pm
Be-Spoke: The Vital Art of Commissioning
If you’ve ever considered commissioning something special, but didn’t know where to start, this one’s for you. This talk at SoShiro Gallery in Marylebone – featuring makers, craft commissioners and brokers – brings the newly-launched podcast Be-Spoke alive, as series host Adriana Paice Kent discusses all facets of commissioning craft.
9 May, 6.30pm
To mark the launch of a low-carbon furniture line by Goldfinger, the ethical design brand – featured alongside others in Crafts issue 291 – is hosting a discussion on working with wood in the circular economy. Head to their north Kensington space at the foot of the Trellick Tower to hear from panellists Marie Carlisle of Goldfinger, woodturner Darren Appiagyei, and Bruce Saunders of timber business Saunders Seasonings, in a conversation chaired by journalist Roddy Clarke.
11 May, 6.30pm
Sustainable Crafts in an Age of Advanced Technology
A talk hosted in Marylebone by Indian furniture maker Kam Ce Kam looks at how AI and robotics, long thought to be the enemy of the handmade, could be married with craft skills in low-income countries to reduce the costs of production and increase quality and longevity of objects, and how such technology can benefit more people.
12 May, 6pm
Is There a Future for Leather?
This panel explores the question of what will happen to hide as ethical and ecological considerations hit home. Join fashion designer Anya Hindmarch, regeneratively-farmed leather pioneers Sara Grady and Alice Robinson of Grady + Robinson, and grass-fed farming advocate Jimmy Woodrow from Pasture for Life at Hindmarch’s new concept store The Village in Belgravia to get under the skin of the debate.
10 May, 6pm
WORKSHOPS
Make a Fragrance with 4160Tuesdays
Sarah McCartney of small-batch perfumier 4160Tuesdays is running two-hour, six-person workshops on the craft of scent. These will take place in the 4160Tuesdays studio in Hammersmith, where – unusually in the 21st century – everything from maturing, macerating, and marketing fragrances happens under the same roof.
10, 12 and 14 May, various times
TOAST and Jacob Monk: Ikat exhibition and weaving workshops
The up-and-coming weaver Jacob Monk is exhibiting his ikat works at TOAST’s menswear store in Carnaby and bringing along his loom to demonstrate how it’s done. If you’re feeling inspired, sign up for one of Monk’s paper-weaving workshops in-store; these classes are free and open to all, with no experience required.
9–15 May, various times
Botanical Cloth-Dyeing Workshop with Cloth Collective
Charlotte Lawson Johnston and Kate Turnbull of Cloth Collective will be using organic flowers picked from Daylesford Organic’s market garden to teach natural dyeing techniques at Daylesford’s Pimlico store. For more on all things floral, catch the dyeing duo in conversation before the two-hour workshop begins.
12 May, 6pm
Create Your Own Hand-Knitted Beanie From Upcycled Material by Joao Maraschin
This two-hour workshop promises that even novice knitters will leave with their very own winter hat, as fashion designer Joao Maraschin – one of our rising stars to watch in 2022 – leads this class at Fabrica X in King’s Cross.
13 May 2022, various times
Royal School of Needlework at The Courtauld
If you’ve ever visited Charleston, the iconic country home of the Bloomsbury Group, and wanted to bring their bohemian style into your own home – now’s your chance. The Royal School of Needlework is running a day-long workshop in canvaswork hand-embroidery at the Courtauld Gallery, inspired by a floral-back chair from the museum’s Bloomsbury Room.
13 May 2022, various times
